Everything on the line for Colorado State men's basketball

Rams' hopes for first-ever MW title hinge on matchup with New Mexico

By Sean Star Sports Writer

Posted:
02/22/2013 10:48:46 PM MST

Saturday No. 22 Colorado State will host No. 16 New Mexico in a matchup between the Mountain West's top two teams. Moby Arena will be sold out for the third this this season, the first time that's ever happened in the venue's 47-year history.
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Steve Stoner
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FORT COLLINS -- Coach Larry Eustachy and his Rams have been saying all season that their next game is always the biggest of the season. And this time, those outside the CSU locker room will agree, as No. 22 Colorado State hosts No. 16 New Mexico on Saturday in a matchup of the Mountain West's top two teams.

For the first time in its 47-year history, Moby Arena will be sold out for a third time this season, setting the stage for perhaps the most highly anticipated game ever at the whale-shaped venue.

Win, and the Rams (21-5, 8-3) will tie the Lobos (22-4, 9-2) atop the standings with four games to play. Lose, and well, even Eustachy admits it will be a long shot for his program to win its first-ever MW title.

The first-year CSU coach adheres to an often-used plus-minus system when comparing his team to the rest of the conference, with road victories counting as a plus-1 and home losses equaling a minus-1. So although the Lobos are a game up on the Rams entering the 2 p.m. tip (NBC Sports Network), the two squads are all square in his mind, as each team is perfect at home so far with three road wins for a total of plus-3.

"A (Lobos win) would put New Mexico at plus-4 and would put us at plus-2 and we'd be out of reach. We'd have to depend on other teams," Eustachy said, while adding, "we can determine it."

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The second-ever matchup at Moby between two nationally ranked teams will be strength on strength. According to KenPom.com's pace-adjusted rankings, CSU's offense is ranked 10th in the country (115.5), while New Mexico's defense is seventh (86.0).

The Lobos and their stingy defense got the better of the Rams in the teams' previous matchup, a 66-61 UNM victory at The Pit on Jan. 23. Colorado State shot just 36.8 percent in the loss, its third-worst shooting game this season. The first half was particularly rough, as the Rams shot just 32.3 percent in falling behind by 10 at halftime.

CSU sophomore guard Daniel Bejarano, who was just 1-of-6 in that meeting, couldn't quite pinpoint why the Lobos are so tough defensively. He just knows playing UNM at home this time will help.

"Maybe because they're long, maybe because we just missed shots. Who knows," he said. "We will be a different team (today)."

UNM is so dominant defensively that it allows them to be less than stellar on the other side of the ball. The Lobos are shooting just 41.1 percent from the field, the program's lowest rate since 1960-61 and better than only one other MW team right now: last-place Fresno State (38.6).

To keep up offensively, Steve Alford's team relies on getting to the free-throw line, where they score more than one out of every four points.

"Everyone on our team needs to keep on playing without fouling," CSU senior center Colton Iverson said. "We've done a better job lately of that. That's definitely going to be an emphasis to keep them off the free-throw line and play without fouling -- being physical with our hands away. If we can do that, we feel that helps our chances of winning on Saturday."

The Rams are also an above-average team in terms of getting to the line, as 23 percent of their scoring this season has come from the charity stripe. And in terms of the game's final outcome, it's imperative, as CSU is 16-0 when attempting more free throws that its opponent. When they don't -- as was the case in the teams' first matchup -- they're just 2-5.

Another factor to consider: the crowd, specifically its effect early on. CSU has actually fallen behind early in its previous two sellouts at Moby. Having 8,745 screaming fans yelling in your favor may seem like a good thing, but Bejarano admitted Thursday that it can actually make a player nervous playing in such an intense atmosphere.

No longer an issue, Iverson says.

"We've gotten past that," he said. "Sometimes it speeds up the game a little bit, and we can't let that affect us. But we'll be ready for it.